Everyone Loves Butters, Part One - Eric Cartman
by DarkGardenia
Summary: With perseverance and tenderness Butters slowly manages to heal the damage deep within Eric Cartman, opening doors not only for their relationship, but for others too. This is the start of Butters journey to discover all the love he has to give. Buttman/Cartters, Kyman, polyship


In South Park there was one boy who was quite possibly the most loved boy in town. It hadn't always been the case, as that boy had grown up with very few true friends and a family who were disinterested at best, abusive at worst. Come high school however, people began to notice the boy's caring, kind nature and couldn't help but be drawn to him. He had such a huge capacity to love, it was impossible not to love him in return. Almost as if he were made to be loved, he found himself with an unbelievable abundance of suitors - almost every boy in his grade. He simply couldn't choose between them, and so he didn't. Everyone came to know that Butters Stotch was dating most of his childhood acquaintances, and while at first people were harsh and judgemental, eventually everyone saw how pure and loving his relationships were. He brought people together, there was no jealousy (they wouldn't taint their love with that emotion), only people united by a singular desire.

It started when he began dating Eric Cartman. People had seen Butters feelings for the other boy from a mile away, but what they hadn't counted on was that Eric felt the same. Perhaps it should have been obvious in hindsight, given Eric's personality, that he would have difficulty showing his affection in a healthy manner. Kenny McCormick was Eric's best friend, everyone knew that, but he and Butters shared a special bond that went beyond rankings and classifications. What started as sleepovers purely for the purposes of humiliating and hurting Butters quickly turned into something very real. By their mid teens the two would stay up late into the night, talking about everything from their hopes and dreams to their deepest fears. The shadow of deep night and the blonde boy's soothing aura providing Eric with the security he needed to really open up. Kenny may have been Eric's best friend, but Butters was his confidante.

He wasn't Eric's first love though. That title went to Kyle Broflovski, another obvious pick, if looked at after the fact. Eric had a pattern when it came to the people he longed for the most, purposely pushing them away as a means to protect himself. Growing up with an absent father and a mother who spent half her time abandoning him for the "company" of others, and the other half over-compensating in her affections, had left him with a warped sense of self worth and love.

Butters had found out about Eric's feelings for Kyle before they'd started dating. It had been an accident and could have been the end of their friendship, yet it turned out to be the catalyst that changed the lives of everyone involved. Butters had been sleeping over one night and the two had lapsed into a comfortable silence - Eric lounging on his bed playing video games and Butters sitting at his desk chair, absent-mindedly spinning it in circles. As he spun around he knocked one of Eric's notebooks to the floor, a loose leaf of paper falling out and fluttering innocently to the ground. Not knowing what it was, Butters bent to pick it up and found his eyes drawn to the two short paragraphs written on the page in Eric's neat hand.

"His fire burns,  
Brighter than any sun.  
I would let his flames burn me to ash,  
If only to feel his warmth.

His rage is a storm,  
An uncontrollable tempest.  
Cold rain, harsh wind, lashing against my skin.  
I am alive."

Eric launched off the bed and grabbed the paper from Butters hand, tearing it, "Don't fucking read that!"

He shoved the other boy roughly, sending him sprawling to the ground, tears gathering in his eyes as he realised he'd messed up and unwittingly invaded his friends privacy. Butters stuttered out an apology, but Eric just huffed and moved back to the bed, climbing under the covers and turning out the light, plunging the room into darkness. Sniffling, Butters crawled to his sleeping bag and lay there, stifling his sobs with his shirt sleeve. After what felt like hours he heard Eric sigh.

"Get up here, you fucking pussy."

He scrambled up into the bed, as Eric rolled over to face him. There, in the dark room lit only by slivers of moonlight that fought past the heavy curtains, Eric told Butters everything. His past, his regrets, his love. How growing up the way he did had left him warped and angry, how he felt he was too far gone and not worth saving, how much shame and self-loathing he had for the way he'd acted in the past. How he yearned for Kyle but had resigned himself to watching from afar, having utterly destroyed any chance he had with the redhead well before he'd even been aware of his feelings.

"For what it's worth," Butters looked his friend in the eye, "I forgive you Eric."

He would deny it until the day he died, but Eric Cartman cried himself to sleep that night, wrapped up in Butters arms while he sang soothingly. The following day he pretended nothing had happened, and Butters followed his lead, but their relationship had fundamentally changed forever. Butters knew he could never replace Kyle, but slowly he managed to carve out his own space in Eric's heart.

It was impossible to be around such a happy, kind-hearted person so much and not be affected. Gradually Butters helped Eric overcome his problems with anger and self-sabotage. Although his blunt, oft-times rude personality remained, the sharp edges were smoothed out and he became much less abrasive. His friends noticed and were suspicious at first, understandably so, however their suspicions were eased with time and bridges Eric had presumed burned forever were steadily rebuilt.

With that, Eric started becoming closer to Kyle than ever before. The two had always had the most intense relationship within the friend group, albeit due to hostility and contest rather than positive emotions. It was inevitable that, as Eric's relationships were repaired they would be drawn together. This left Eric confused and upset, because as much as he had loved Kyle in the past, he was with Butters now and the rekindled feelings had done nothing to dampen his love for his boyfriend.

Luckily Butters, more perceptive than anyone gave him credit for, had noticed what was going on in Eric's mind, so one day he sat his boyfriend down and told him it was ok. Love wasn't meant to be controlled or contained - there were no rules and if Eric loved both of them, then there was nothing to be done about it. He had a big heart and more love to give than he realised.

So with his boyfriend's encouragement in mind, Eric Cartman approached Kyle Broflovski and took a deep breath.

"Kyle… Can I talk to you for a minute?"


End file.
